System and Method for Managing Printing Devices Using Activity Scores

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure is directed to a system, a method, and a device for monitoring printing devices using activity scores. In example embodiments, one or more printing devices are polled to monitor associated device states. A management device, using the associated device state and one or more requests transmitted to each of the one or more printing devices, generates an activity score. By comparing activity scores of the one or more printing devices, the management device can rank the printing devices against one another and assign priority levels to each printing device. These priority levels can then be used to establish frequencies for future polling of the one or more printing devices.

BACKGROUND

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in thissection are not prior art to the claims in this application and are notadmitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.

In recent years, various types of printing devices have become popularfor both business and consumer use. In addition to traditional black andwhite printers, color printers, scanners, copiers, fax machines, andother components are now common. Multifunctional products (MFPs), whichsupport two or more of these operations, are also widely available.

In some instances, multiple printing devices may be on a network for useby one or more user devices. These printing devices may be managed by amanagement device.

In order to maintain information regarding the state of the printingdevices, the management device may poll each of the printing devices forinformation about the current device state, especially in networks wherethe printing devices cannot push their status to the management device.

Particularly if the management device has a small amount of processingresources available, or if there is a large number of managed devices,it may be necessary or desirable to limit the frequency with which themanagement device polls the printing devices.

SUMMARY

Disclosed herein are embodiments that relate to a system, a method, anda device for monitoring printing devices using activity scores.

In one aspect, a printing device management system includes one or moreprinting devices. Each of the one or more printing devices has one ormore associated device states. The system also includes a managementdevice. The management device includes a printing device controllerconfigured to poll each of the one or more printing devices for the oneor more associated device states. The printing device controller isadditionally configured to transmit one or more requests to each of theone or more printing devices. Further, the management device includes anon-transitory, computer-readable medium with instructions storedthereon. When a processing device within the management device executesthe instructions, the processing device performs to maintain an activityscore for each of the one or more printing devices. The activity scoreis based on the one or more associated device states and the one or morerequests, both defined over a first specified length of time. Whenexecuting the instructions, the processing device also performs to rankeach of the one or more printing devices based on the activity score ofeach of the one or more printing devices. Furthermore, when executingthe instructions, the processing device performs to establish afrequency, for each of the one or more printing devices, over which topoll each of the one or more printing devices. The frequency for each ofthe one or more printing devices is based to the rank of each of the oneor more printing devices.

In a different aspect, a method for managing one or more printingdevices includes polling, by a device controller within a managementdevice, one or more printing devices. Each of the one or more printingdevices has one or more associated device states. The method furtherincludes maintaining, by a processing device within the managementdevice executing a set of instructions stored on a non-transitory,computer-readable medium, an activity score for each of the one or moreprinting devices. The activity score is based on the one or moreassociated device states and one or more requests transmitted from thedevice controller to each of the one or more printing devices, bothdefined over a first specified length of time. Additionally, the methodincludes ranking, by the processing device within the management deviceexecuting a set of instructions stored on a non-transitory,computer-readable medium, each of the one or more printing devices basedon the activity score of each of the one or more printing devices. Themethod also includes establishing, by the processing device within themanagement device executing a set of instructions stored on anon-transitory, computer-readable medium, a frequency, for each of theone or more printing devices, over which to poll each of the one or moreprinting devices. The frequency for each of the one or more printingdevices is based on the rank of each of the one or more printingdevices.

In a third aspect, a management device configured to manage printingdevices includes a printing device controller. The printing devicecontroller is configured to poll each of one or more printing devicesfor one or more associated device states. The printing device controlleris also configured to transmit one or more requests to each of the oneor more printing devices. The management device further includes anon-transitory, computer-readable medium, with instructions storedthereon. When a processing device within the management device executesthe instructions, the processing device performs to maintain an activityscore for each of the one or more printing devices. The activity scoreis based on the one or more associated device states and the one or morerequests, both defined over a first specified length of time. Whenexecuting the instructions, the processing device additionally performsto rank each of the one or more printing devices based on the activityscore of each of the one or more printing devices. When executing theinstructions, the processing device also performs to establish afrequency, for each of the one or more printing devices, over which topoll each of the one or more printing devices. The frequency for each ofthe one or more printing devices is based on the rank of each of the oneor more printing devices.

The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be inany way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments,and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and featureswill become apparent by reference to the figures and the followingdetailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a printing device management system,according to example embodiments.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a printing device, according to exampleembodiments.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of computing components of aprinting device or a management device, according to exampleembodiments.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a set of printing device activities, asmonitored by the management device, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of an ordered list of multiple monitoredprinting devices, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of a handicapping of an ordered list ofmultiple monitored printing devices, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 7a is a flow chart of a method, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 7b is a flow chart of a sub-method of the method in FIG. 7a ,according to example embodiments.

FIG. 7c is a flow chart of a sub-method of the method in FIG. 7a ,according to example embodiments.

FIG. 7d is a flow chart of a sub-method of the method in FIG. 7a ,according to example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example methods and systems are described herein. Any example embodimentor feature described herein is not necessarily to be construed aspreferred or advantageous over other embodiments or features. Theexample embodiments described herein are not meant to be limiting. Itwill be readily understood that certain aspects of the disclosed systemsand methods can be arranged and combined in a wide variety of differentconfigurations, all of which are contemplated herein.

Furthermore, the particular arrangements shown in the figures should notbe viewed as limiting. It should be understood that other embodimentsmight include more or less of each element shown in a given figure. Inaddition, some of the illustrated elements may be combined or omitted.Similarly, an example embodiment may include elements that are notillustrated in the figures.

I. OVERVIEW

Example embodiments employ a management device to monitor the status ofone or more printing devices through the use of activity scoresassociated with each of the devices.

The activity scores may be curated as an amalgamation of variousactivities that relate to the functioning of the one or more printingdevices. Using the activity scores, the one or more printing devices canbe ranked against one another. Then, based on the ranking, the printingdevices can be associated with one or more priority levels. Thesepriority levels may correlate to frequencies with which the printingdevices are polled by the management device for status updates.

In one embodiment, the management device maintains a list of allactivities occurring within a printing device and requests transmittedto the printing device over a specific period of time. Each activity andrequest are assigned associated activity weightages that indicate howmuch each activity and request should impact activity score. When a newrequest is issued to a printing device or an activity is executed by aprinting device, the management device updates the list of allactivities for the respective printing device. By aggregating allactivities for an individual printing device, including associatedactivity weightages, the management device creates an activity score forthat device.

The management device then ranks the activity score for that printingdevice against the activity scores for other printing devices,determined over the same period of time. Those printing devices withhigher activity scores, therefore, are more frequently used and/or arein more frequent need of servicing.

This ranking of activity scores is used by the management device toassociate priority levels with each of the printing devices. In someexample embodiments, there may be hundreds or thousands of printingdevices assigned to one management device. Because the management devicehas limited computing resources, the time it spends curating the list ofactivity scores for any one printing device may be allocated based onthe importance of that printing device. The priority levels associatedby the management device serve as a label, in addition to the activityscore, by which the management device identifies the importance of agiven printing device.

The printing devices that are associated with higher priority levels arethus monitored more closely and polled for status updates morefrequently. Those printing devices with lower priority levels are polledless frequently.

The activity scores and resulting priority levels may be continuouslyupdated by the management device, in some embodiments. Furthermore, theactivity scores may be reset to a base level every specified amount oftime to allow newly managed printing devices to populate competitiveactivity scores based on recent activities.

II. EXAMPLE SYSTEMS

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an image forming system 100, according toexample embodiments. The system 100 includes a management device 102 andone or more printing devices 104, 106, 108.

The printing devices 104, 106, 108 are further detailed in FIGS. 2 and3, and may be printers, scanners, facsimile units, or MFPs capable ofperforming multiple tasks. Furthermore, the image forming system 100 maycontain more or fewer than three printing devices; FIG. 1 is purelyprovided as an example.

The management device 102 may be a desktop computing device, a laptopcomputing device, a tablet computing device, a mobile computing device,or a server in various embodiments. The management device 102 isresponsible for monitoring the printing devices 104, 106, 108. Themanagement device 102 may perform other tasks unrelated to printingdevice monitoring, as well.

The management device 102 may communicate with the printing devices 104,106, 108 over a private network, such as a local area network (LAN), ora public network, such as the public Internet.

Additionally, the management device 102 may utilize wireless or wirelinemeans to communicate with the printing devices 104, 106, 108. Forexample, the management device 102 may have a wireless connection to arouter, which may route communications between members of a LAN. Theprinting devices 104, 106, 108 may alternatively have access to a routerusing a wireline interface. Using the LAN as the communication medium,the management device 102 and the printing devices 104, 106, 108 maytransmit information to one another.

Still further, the printing devices 104, 106, 108 may communicate withthe management device 102 using more direct means, such as a wirelineconnection using a Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable, a FireWire® (IEEE1394) cable, a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cable, or aserial RS-232 cable. Similarly, the printing devices 104, 106, 108 maycommunicate locally with the management device 102 wireless usingBluetooth® or Wi-Fi® (IEEE 802.11 standard) technologies.

FIG. 2 depicts an example of one of the printing devices 104, 106, 108.The printing devices 104, 106, 108 may be configured to printpartially-stored and/or fully-stored electronic documents on varioustypes of physical output media. These output media include, but are notlimited to, various sizes and types of paper, overhead transparencies,three-dimensional (3D) plastics, and so on. The printing devices 104,106, 108 may be interchangeably referred to as “printers.”

The printing devices 104, 106, 108 may serve as local peripherals to acomputing device, such as a personal computer, a server device, a printserver, etc. In these cases, the printing devices 104, 106, 108 may beattached to the computing device by cable, such as a serial port cable,parallel port cable, USB cable, FireWire cable, or HDMI cable. Theseattachments may be in addition to the communicative coupling of theprinting devices 104, 106, 108 to the management device 102. In thisway, the computing device may serve as a source of electronic documentsfor the printing devices 104, 106, 108.

On the other hand, the printing devices 104, 106, 108 may includewireline or wireless network interfaces, such as Ethernet or Wi-Fi®interfaces. So arranged, the printing devices 104, 106, 108 may serve asprinting devices for any number of computing devices that cancommunicate with the printing devices 104, 106, 108 over a network. Insome embodiments, the printing devices 104, 106, 108 may serve as both alocal peripheral and a networked printer at the same time.

In order to use the printing devices 104, 106, 108, computing devicesmay install one or more printer drivers. These printer drivers mayinclude software components that convert electronic documents to beprinted from various local representations stored on the computingdevices to one or more representations supported by the printing devices104, 106, 108.

Regardless, the printing devices 104, 106, 108 may comprise computingdevices, and may carry out both printing-related and non-printingrelated tasks. For instance, the printing devices 104, 106, 108 may alsoinclude copier, fax, and scanner functions. In some embodiments, theprinting devices 104, 106, 108 may use a scanning unit to facilitatecopier and/or fax functions. For instance, the printing devices 104,106, 108 may scan a physical document into an electronic format, andthen print the resulting electronic document to provide a copy, and/ortransmit the resulting electronic document via a telephone interface toprovide a fax operation. Additionally, the printing devices 104, 106,108 may be able to receive a faxed electronic document via a telephoneinterface, and then compress and store a representation of thiselectronic document.

In order to support its various capabilities, the printing devices 104,106, 108 may include document feeders/output trays 202, paper storage204, user interfaces 206, scanning elements 208, and chassis 210. Itshould be understood that the printing devices 104, 106, 108 may take ona wide variety of forms. Therefore, the printing devices 104, 106, 108may include more or fewer components than depicted in FIG. 2, and/orcomponents arranged in a different fashion than depicted in FIG. 2.Additionally, the printing devices 104, 106, 108 need not all take onthe same form as one another.

The document feeders/output trays 202 may hold physical documents (e.g.,a stack of one or more sheets of paper) that are to be scanned, copied,or faxed. Advantageously, the document feeders/output trays 202 mayallow the printing devices 104, 106, 108 to automatically feed multiplephysical documents for processing by the printing devices 104, 106, 108without requiring manual intervention. The document feeders/output trays202 may also include one or more separate output trays for holdingphysical documents that have been processed by the printing devices 104,106, 108. These may include physical documents that have been scanned,copied, or faxed by the printing devices 104, 106, 108, as well asphysical documents that have been produced by, e.g., the fax and/orcopying functions of the printing devices 104, 106, 108.

Paper storage 204 may include trays and/or feeding elements for varioustypes of physical media. For instance, paper storage 204 may includeseparate trays for 8.5×11 inch paper, A4 paper, letterhead paper,envelopes, and so on. For any operation of the printing devices 104,106, 108 that involves outputting physical media (e.g., printing,copying, and/or receiving a fax), paper storage 204 may supply thephysical media. In embodiments where the printing devices 104, 106, 108are capable of 3D printing, the paper storage 204 may supply thephysical media in the form of acrylic (polymethyl methacrylate—PMMA),acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), or polylactic acid (PLA), forexample.

The user interfaces 206 may facilitate the interaction of the printingdevices 104, 106, 108 with human or non-human users, such as to receiveinput from users and to provide output to users. Thus, the userinterfaces 206 may include input components such as keypads, keyboards,touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive panels, joysticks, microphones,still cameras, and/or video cameras. The user interfaces 206 may alsoinclude one or more output components such as display screens (which,for example, may be combined with a presence-sensitive panel), cathoderay tubes (CRTs), liquid crystal displays (LCDs), light emitting diode(LED) based displays, displays using digital light processing (DLP®)technology, light bulbs, and/or one or more other similar devices, nowknown or later developed. The user interfaces 206 may also be configuredto be able to generate audible output(s), via speakers, speaker jacks,audio output ports, audio output devices, earphones, and/or othersimilar devices, now known or later developed in the future.

The scanning elements 208 may be glass panels below which movable lightsources operate to scan physical media placed on top of the glasspanels. Alternatively, a digital camera below the glass panels may“scan” the physical media placed on top of the glass panels by taking apicture of the physical media. Images of scanned physical media may bestored in data storage associated with the printing devices 104, 106,108.

The chassis 210 may include a physical housing that contains and/orinterconnects various components of the printing devices 104, 106, 108,such as the document feeders/output trays 202, paper storage 204, theuser interfaces 206, and the scanning elements 208. Additionally, thechassis 210 may house other components not shown in FIG. 2. For example,the chassis 210 may contain one or more toner cartridges, liquid inkjets, belts, rollers, and/or power supplies. Further, the chassis 210may include communication interfaces, such as wireline and/or wirelessnetwork interfaces, telephony interfaces (e.g., an RJ45 jack), USBinterfaces, Bluetooth® interfaces, card reader ports, etc.

Moreover, as the printing devices 104, 106, 108 may be based ongeneral-purpose and/or specially-designed computing device components,the chassis 210 may also house some or all of these components. To thatpoint, FIG. 3 depicts an example embodiment 300 of computing devicecomponents (e.g., functional elements of a computing device) that may beincluded in the printing devices 104, 106, 108. The computing devicecomponents presented in FIG. 3 may also be suitable components for themanagement device 102.

Computing device components 300 may include a processor 302, memory 304,and an input/output unit 306, all of which may be coupled by a systembus 308 or a similar mechanism. The processor 302 may include one ormore central processing units (CPUs), such as one or more generalpurpose processors and/or one or more dedicated processors (e.g.,application specific integrated circuits—ASICs or digital signalprocessors—DSPs, etc.).

Memory 304, in turn, may comprise volatile and/or non-volatile datastorage and can be integrated in whole or in part with the processor302. Memory 304 may store program instructions, executable by theprocessor 302, and data that are manipulated by the processor 302, whenexecuting the program instructions, to carry out the various methods,processes, or functions described herein. Alternatively, these methods,processes, or operations can be defined by hardware, firmware, and/orany combination of hardware, firmware, and software. Therefore, memory304 may include a tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium,having stored thereon program instructions. When one or more processors302 execute the program instructions, the one or more processors 302 maycause the printing devices 104, 106, 108 or the management device 102 tocarry out any of the methods, processes, or functions disclosed in thisspecification or the accompanying drawings.

Memory 304 may also be configured to store compressed and non-compressedelectronic documents that may later be processed (e.g., printed orfaxed). Thus, memory 304 may serve as an output medium for theseelectronic documents.

The input/output unit 306 may include any of the operations and/orelements described in reference to the user interfaces 206. Thus, theinput/output unit 306 may serve to configure and/or control theoperation of the processor 302. The input/output unit 306 may alsoprovide output based on the operations performed by the processor 302.

These examples of printing devices 104, 106, 108 are provided forillustrative purposes. In addition to and/or alternatively to theexamples above, other combinations and/or sub-combinations of printerand computer technologies may also exist, among other possibilities,without departing from the scope of the embodiments herein.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a set of printing device activities 400 ofone of the printing devices 104, 106, 108, as monitored by themanagement device 102, according to example embodiments. The set ofprinting device activities 400 includes activity times 402, activitytypes 404, activity weightages 406, individual activity events 408, anda total activity score 410. This illustration may, for example, depictthe state of the set of printing device activities 400 after step 730,of sub-method 720, or step 778, of sub-method 760, of method 700 (laterdescribed).

The set of printing device activities 400 may be stored as a file withinthe memory 304 of the management device 102. Alternatively, the set ofprinting device activities 400 may be a portion of a larger file, alsosaved within the memory 304 of the management device 102, which containsthe activities for all of the printing devices 104, 106, 108 currentlymanaged by the management device 102. Further, the information displayedin the set of printing device activities 400 may have been obtained by acombination of polling events of one of the printing devices 104, 106,108, by the management device 102 for associated device state (firmwareinformation), and a collection of transmissions to one of the printingdevices 104, 106, 108.

The activity times 402 may be time-stamps associated with the printingdevice activities. They may be stored as metadata associated with eachactivity within the management device 102, for instance. The activitytimes 402 may be displayed by the management device 102 on a displaywithin the input/output unit 306 for analysis by an end-user.

In addition, the activity times 402 may aid in the calculation ofactivity score 410. The management device 102 may reduce the set ofprinting device activities 400 by creating a subset of activities thathave occurred within a specified time period. Then, management device102 may calculate the activity score 410 based only on the subset. Thiscould prevent very old activity data from having a significant impact oncurrent activity scores 410, thereby yielding a more accurate activityscore representation of the current state of the system 100.

In other embodiments, however, the activity times 402 will indicate whenthe activities were collected, not when they occurred, and hence theactivity times 402 will not influence the calculation of the activityscore 410. It may also be the case that the management device 102 storesonly activity data having activity times 402 corresponding to activitiesthat would be used in activity score 410 calculations. In other words,the management device 102 may preemptively discard those activitieswhose activity times 402 indicate they will not be factored into anyactivity score 410 calculations. This may be done in an effort toconserve memory within the management device 102.

The activity type 404 is another example of metadata that may beincluded in an individual activity event 408 associated with theprinting devices 104, 106, 108.

In some embodiments, the activity type 404 may be stored as a string ofcharacters within the management device 102. The activity type 404 maythen be used as a search key within a database in the management device102. Each activity type 404 may correspond to a specific activityweightage 406. In this way, the management device 102 could use theactivity types 404 as a way of looking up how much weight a specificactivity should be given when calculating the activity score 410 for aparticular printing device having a particular activity in its set ofprinting device activities 400.

Activity weightage 406 is a value that corresponds to an individualactivity event 408 that indicates how much the activity should impactthe total activity score 410 of the printing device. The activityweightage 406 may be stored as a double, integer, or other primitivetype within the management device 102, for example. In some embodiments,the activity weightage 406 will represent a decimal score from 0 to 1.In other embodiments the activity weightage 406 may take on integervalues from 1 to 100. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 4, the activityweightage 406 is an integer value of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, with largervalues influencing the activity score 410 more than smaller values.

Additionally, activity weightages, and consequently activity scores, mayhave negative values. For instance, if one of the activities occurringwithin the printing device were removing ten print jobs from the queueby transferring them to another printing device, the printing devicewould experience less use than previously anticipated. This activity ofremoving jobs from the queue may have a negative activity weightage 406associated with it to indicate that the activity score shouldcorrespondingly decrease due to reduced use.

As an additional example, the printing device may become enrolled into adifferent network, and subsequently be remotely managed/maintained by adifferent management device. This would negate the need for the originalmanagement device to manage the printing device, and no more pollingwould be necessary. Hence, a negative activity weightage 406 may beassigned to the activity of joining a different network such that thetotal activity score 410 of the printing device becomes lower withrespect to other managed printing devices.

The activity weightages 406 may be summed, in some embodiments, to yieldthe total activity score 410, as in FIG. 4. In other embodiments, theactivity score 410 may be computed by taking the average value of theactivity weightages 406 of the printing device.

Alternatively, the activity weightage 406 may act as an additionalmultiplier for another type of activity statistic used for the activityscore 410 calculation. For example, the activity type 404 of “low toner”may be assigned a default activity value of 5. However, before usingthat activity value toward the calculation of the activity score 410,the activity weightage 406 may multiply that activity value. Forinstance, if the “low toner” were magenta toner, the activity weightage406 may be “0.6”, indicating that the contribution of this “low toner”activity type 404 to the activity score 410 should be 3 (5 multiplied by0.6). If instead, though, the “low toner” were black toner, the activityweightage 406 may be “1”, indicating that the contribution of this “lowtoner” activity type 404 to the activity score 410 should be the full 5.In this way, the activity weightage 406 could act to differentiatebetween the contribution of more critical and less critical forms ofsimilar activities to the total activity score 410.

Furthermore, the activity weightage 406 may take into account thepriority level, and therefore polling frequency, for the printing devicebeing monitored. This may be done, in some embodiments, to ensure a faircomparison with other total activity scores of other printing devices.For example, if the printing device being monitored in the set ofprinting device activities 400 is being polled twice as frequently asanother printing device, but they have the same associated device state(e.g., “out of paper” indication), the contribution to their respectiveactivity scores of this associated device state (reflected in therespective activity weightages) may be equal per unit of time.

Therefore, if the activity scores for the printing devices arecalculated by summation, the printing device being monitored in the setof printing device activities 400 would have an activity weightage forthe “out of paper” indication that is half of the activity weightage forthe “out of paper” indication in the printing device being polled halfas frequently.

In other embodiments, however, it may be the case that the activityweightages are the same for each printing device, regardless of pollingfrequency. This may create a cascading activity score for those printingdevices with higher activity scores because device activities are beingcounted more often. In other words, since those printing devices withhigher activity scores have higher priority levels, they also havehigher polling frequencies. If those printing devices are polled moreoften due to the higher polling frequencies, the weightages of deviceactivities will be added to their activity scores more per unit time.This, in turn, may make their activity score increase more rapidly withrespect to other activity scores. Therefore, the priority level andpolling frequency of that printing device may increase even more,relative to other printing devices. This cascading activity score mayindicate, for instance, that a printing device has been out of paper foran extended period of time.

In some embodiments, all activity types 404 will carry exactly the sameweight when contributing to the total activity score 410. This may beindicated by the activity weightage 406 for each event having the samevalue, regardless of activity type 404.

The individual activity events 408 are depicted in the illustration 400in FIG. 4 as an entire row. This row may be represented within themanagement device 102 as three entries with the same index in threedifferent one-dimensional arrays, for instance. Further, if theindividual activity events 408 are maintained as a single entity withinthe management device 102, it makes it easier for manual review by auser.

Additionally, the individual activity events 408 may be stored asdifferent rows within a spreadsheet or a comma separated variables(.csv) file within the management device 102.

In alternate embodiments, the individual activity events 408 may containadditional information regarding each event. Examples of suchinformation are origination of the activity, resolution of the activity,duration of the activity, etc.

The total activity score 410 is an amalgamation of the activityweightages 406 for each individual activity event 408. The totalactivity score 410 is used as a measure of how active the printingdevice associated with that total activity score 410 is. The totalactivity score 410, may be curated, in some embodiments, over only aspecified number of recent events (e.g. the last 100 individual activityevents 408). Alternatively, it may be curated for any number of eventsoccurring within a specified length of time (e.g. all individualactivity events 408 occurring within the last 12 hours or between 8 AMto 6 PM Monday-Friday).

Multiple methods of computing the total activity score 410 are possible,in various embodiments. One way of computing the total activity score410 is taking the algebraic sum of all the activity weightages 406.Computing the total activity score 410 in this way equates each addedindividual activity events 408 with an increasing total activity score410.

An alternate way of computing the total activity score 410 may includecomputing, by the management device 102, the mean or median of theactivity weightages 406. This way of computing the total activity score410 makes it possible for managed printing devices with far fewerindividual activity events 408 to have comparable or higher totalactivity scores 410 than those managed printing devices with a muchhigher number of individual activity events 408.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of an ordered list 500 of multiple monitoredprinting devices 104, 106, 108, according to example embodiments. Theordered list 500 includes device Internet Protocol (IP) addresses 502,activity scores associated with each device 504, and priority levelsassociated with each device 506. This illustration may, for example,depict the state of the ordered list 500 after step 716 of method 700(later described).

The ordered list 500 of multiple monitored printing devices 104, 106,108 may be represented within the management device 102 as a file thatis stored on a segment of non-volatile memory.

The device IP addresses 502 indicate the network name of the managedprinting devices 104, 106, 108. Alternate ways of identifying themanaged printing devices 104, 106, 108 may be used in variousembodiments. The network locations could, instead, be identified bymedia access control (MAC) addresses, web addresses (uniform resourcelocators—URLs), or port numbers (if the printing devices 104, 106, 108are connected locally to the management device 102).

Alternatively, a file stored within the memory 304 of the managementdevice 102 may contain the network addresses of all of the managedprinting devices 104, 106, 108, as well as associated tags that indicatenicknames provided for each printing device 104, 106, 108 by a user,such as “third floor printer.” These nicknames may be displayed insteadof the network addresses if the ordered list 500 of multiple monitoredprinting devices 104, 106, 108 is ever displayed on a display devicewithin the management device 102.

The column representing the activity scores associated with device 504is a collection of the total activity scores 410 of all printing devices104, 106, 108 managed by the management device 102. The activity scores504 are all calculated in the same fashion (sum vs. average, forexample) such that they can be meaningfully compared with one another bythe management device 102.

As shown in FIG. 5, the printing devices have been ranked by activityscore 504, from highest to lowest. This ranking also corresponds to theassigned priority level 506 for each printing device. In some exampleembodiments, though, there may be a printing device ranked higher thanits corresponding activity score 504 indicates relative to otherprinting devices. For example, certain embodiments may implement aranking flag, stored within the management device 102, which allows auser to set the ranking of a particular printing device. This presetranking will supersede the activity scores when ranking that printingdevice.

Alternatively, the management device 102, in some embodiments, mayimplement a priority flag. The priority flag may indicate which prioritylevel 506 should be assigned to a particular printing device regardlessof its ranking based on activity score 504.

The two types of flags described above, ranking flags and priorityflags, may be used by the management device 102 to indicate thoseprinting devices that have importance above what may be indicated bytheir activity score 504. As an example, a printing device that is usedby a teacher in a classroom may take precedence over printing devicesused by students. Even though the teacher may interact with thepreassigned printing device less than the students interact with otherprinting devices, it may be imperative that the status of theteacher-assigned printing device be updated more regularly than thestudent-assigned printing device(s). Similar examples include anexecutive's office printer within a large corporate printing network, aspecialized 3D printer within a manufacturing facility that is utilizedfor specialized tasks, or a printer associated with a premium user on asubscription-based management network for printing devices.

The priority levels associated with each device 506 may be strings thatindicate how often the associated printing device should be polled forits associated device state. For example, a priority level 506 of“Urgent” may represent that the associated printing device should bepolled every second and a priority of “Low” may represent that theassociated printing device should be polled every ten minutes.

The number of unique priority levels within the management device 102may be configurable. Additionally, how many managed printing devices areassociated with a specific priority level, either by percentage or bynumber, may also be configurable.

Further, the number of printing devices associated with each prioritylevel may dynamically change based on the amount of computing resourcesavailable within the management device 102. For example, if there are noother tasks occupying the computing resources of the management device102, there may be 20% of the printing devices associated with thepriority level 506 of “Urgent”. However, if the management device 102 isexecuting many other tasks with its computing resources, there may beonly 5% of the printing devices associated with the priority level 506of “Urgent”. The amount that the computing resources affects the numberof printing devices associated with each priority level 506 may beconfigurable.

Alternatively, integers, floats, or doubles could be used, instead ofstrings, to indicate the priority levels 506 (e.g. the priority levelsrange from “1” to “10”, with “10” being the highest priority and “1”being the lowest).

FIG. 6 is an illustration of a handicapping (resetting) of an orderedlist of multiple monitored printing devices 104, 106, 108, according toexample embodiments. This illustration may, for example, depict thetransition that occurs during sub-method 740 of method 700 (laterdescribed).

The handicapping process depicted in FIG. 6 is a method of resetting theactivity scores 504. This may occur, in various embodiments, overvarious timescales (e.g., every morning at 4 AM, every Monday morning at8 AM, the first of every month at 6 AM, etc.). In one example embodimentillustrated in FIG. 6, the activity scores 504 are reset overnightbetween the hours of 10:00 PM on Jan. 22, 2016 and 6:00 AM on Jan. 23,2016.

One rationale for resetting the activity scores 504 overnight, forexample, is to allow newly monitored printing devices a chance tocompete with established printing devices in terms of activity score.For instance, newly monitored printing devices may begin with anactivity score of 0 and then accrue activity score thereafter. If theactivity scores 504 were a running total, computed by summation, of allactivities (weightages) occurring within a printing device since theprinting device joined the network, a printing device that has been inuse for over a year may have an insurmountable activity score 504advantage over a new printing device added to the network, even if thenew printing device is used more frequently in the near future.

In addition, the handicapping process may occur at different times orwith different frequencies for each printing device. For example, if,within a group of managed printing devices 104, 106, 108, there are someprinting devices that are used only on Thursdays and Fridays and someprinting devices that are used all week, it may be pertinent to resetthe activity scores 504 every Monday and Thursday for the printingdevices that are used all week, and only reset the activity scores everyThursday for the printing devices that are used only on Thursdays andFridays, in order to maintain a meaningful activity score relationshipbetween the two sets at all times. For certain embodiments, the times atwhich or frequency with which the handicapping occurs may beconfigurable.

The handicapping, itself, may be executed in multiple ways in variousembodiments. One example way would be providing, by the managementdevice 102, a handicap score for each printing device 104, 106, 108.This handicap score, which may be configurable, may include a numberused in resetting each activity score. This number may be the activityscore 504 to which the associated printing device should be reset, itmay be a percentage of the current activity score to which the activityscore 504 should be reset, it may be the number of points that should besubtracted from the current activity score for that particular printingdevice, etc.

Additionally, the handicap value associated with each printing devicemay be dependent on the priority level associated with each printingdevice prior to the resetting (as depicted in FIGS. 5 and 6). Therefore,even though a subset of printing devices are being reset to loweractivity score values, those printing devices that had previouslyestablished a higher activity score will maintain a competitive edgeover the other printing devices, even after resetting. Again, thebreakdown of what handicap value is applied to each priority level andthe distribution between those handicap values may be configurable, incertain embodiments.

In alternate embodiments, the handicap value may be calculated bybreaking up the pre-handicapped activity scores into categories, basedon the highest activity score of all printing devices. As an example, ifthe maximum activity score 504 before handicapping had a value of 150,as in FIG. 6, and the handicap values were broken down into fivecategories, each category would hold activity scores ranging over 30values (150±5=30). If this were the case, again using thepre-handicapped activity scores of FIG. 6 as an example, the categorieswould be broken down into activity scores of 0-30, 31-60, 61-90, 91-120,and 121-150. Therefore, respectively, the handicap values correspondingto those categories may be 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. If this were the case, IPaddress 192.168.1.2 would instead have a post-handicapped activity scoreof 5, IP address 192.168.1.3 would instead have a post-handicappedactivity score of 3, and IP address 192.168.1.7 would instead have apost-handicapped activity score of 1, if using the examplepre-handicapped activity scores of FIG. 6.

In still further embodiments, the handicap value for each printingdevice may be calculated based on an average activity score differencebetween printing devices prior to handicapping. For example, a measureof the average difference in FIG. 6 may be calculated by subtracting thelowest activity score from the highest, and dividing by the number ofprinting devices. This yields an average activity score difference of

$16\frac{2}{3}{\left( \frac{150 - 0}{9} \right).}$

Thus, IP address 192.168.1.2 may be given a handicap value of

${17\left( {{16\frac{2}{3} \times \frac{150}{150}} = {{16\frac{2}{3}} \approx 17}} \right)},$

whereas IP address 192.168.1.9 may be given a handicap value of

$4{\left( {{16\frac{2}{3} \times \frac{32}{150}} = {{3\frac{5}{9}} \approx 4}} \right).}$

Furthermore, the initialization of the printing device management on themanagement device 102 may occur in a similar fashion to a handicappingprocess, except all devices may be handicapped to the same initialactivity score 504 (an activity score of 0, for example).

Because all devices would have the same activity scores 504 on startup,the management device may need to find an additional way to rank theprinting devices initially added to the ordered list 500 oninitialization. This may be done based on the discovery order of theprinting devices 104, 106, 108 (i.e., the earlier a particular printingdevice is discovered, the higher it is ranked). Therefore, thoseprinting devices that are most quickly discovered using device discoverymay initially have the highest priority levels 506.

Furthermore, the management device 102 may be configured to handle thecase where a printing device goes offline or leaves a network, butreturns prior to the next reset event. This could be handled in variousways. In some embodiments, the printing device will maintain the sameactivity score 504 it had prior to leaving the network or going offline.In other embodiments, the printing device may be handicapped some amountof activity score 504. In still other embodiments, the printing devicemay have its activity score 504 reset to 0 or some other initializationvalue.

III. EXAMPLE PROCESSES

FIG. 7a is a flow chart illustrating a method 700, according to exampleembodiments.

At step 702, the method 700 includes beginning the update method. Thismay include, in some embodiments, the processing device 302 within themanagement device 102 initiating the execution of instructions storedwithin the memory 304 within the management device 102. This may furtherinclude, in some embodiments, temporarily transferring a set ofinstructions from non-volatile memory within the management device 102to volatile memory within the management device 102 for rapid accessduring execution by the processing device 302.

Alternatively, step 702 may include the processing device initiatingcommunication with a web service by executing web instructions on a webserver through a web browser.

Step 702 may, in some embodiments, occur in response to a user requestcommunicated through the input unit 306 within the management device102, such as a keyboard, mouse, or touch-panel. Additionally, step 702may be initiated by a remote request communicated to the managementdevice 102.

Step 702 may also be executed within the management device 102 when arequest is transmitted to one of the printing devices 104, 106, 108,which allows the activity scores to be updated soon after thetransmission of requests.

At step 704, the method 700 includes determining if the time has come toreset the activity scores associated with the printing devices 104, 106,108. If it is determined that the time has come, the method 700 proceedsto step 712 of method 700. If it is determined that the time has notcome, the method 700 proceeds to step 706 of method 700.

Step 704 may include comparing a current timestamp to a threshold timevalue stored within the management device 102, and determining if thecurrent timestamp is later than the threshold time value. Alternatively,step 704 may include subtracting a previous timestamp from the currenttimestamp to determine an amount of time that has passed. The valueresulting from the subtraction may then be compared to a threshold timedifference to see if the value resulting from the subtraction is largerthan the threshold.

The time to reset the activity scores may be configurable. Themanagement device 102 may have a reset interval flag that allows thetime between activity score resets to be stored. For example, the resetinterval flag may indicate to reset the activity scores of all printingdevices in the network every 12 hours.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, the management device 102 may have atime reset flag that allows the time and day of resets to be stored. Forexample, the time reset flag may indicate that every weekday at 8 AM orthat on the first and third Tuesdays of every month at 3 AM, theactivity scores should be reset.

At step 706, the method 700 includes determining if there was a requestsent to a printing device. If it is determined that there was a requestsent to a printing device, the method 700 proceeds to step 710. If it isdetermined that there was not a print request sent to a printing device,the method 700 proceeds to step 708.

Step 706 may include the management device 102 opening a communicationslog file stored within the memory 304, and reading the file to determineif a request was transmitted. There may be, associated with thecommunications log file, a timestamp indicating the last time the filewas opened/read to determine if a request was transmitted. This mayallow the management device 102 to only scan those log entries createdsince that previous timestamp or appended to the file after a certainlocation within the file, if the file were sorted by timestamp.

Furthermore, step 706 may, in some embodiments, include polling otherdevices that are using the various printing devices 104, 106, 108 todetermine if they have sent one or more requests to one or more of thevarious printing devices 104, 106, 108 since the last time the requeststatus was determined.

The requests being analyzed in step 706 may include, for example,printing requests, network status requests, remaining paper inquiries,remaining toner inquiries, current print job status requests, number ofjobs queued inquiries, etc.

At step 708, the method 700 includes proceeding through sub-method 760.

At step 710, the method 700 includes proceeding through sub-method 720.

At step 712, the method 700 includes proceeding through sub-method 740.

At step 714, the method 700 includes re-ranking the current listing ofall activity scores of presently monitored printing devices 104, 106,108. Step 714, may, in some embodiments, include the processing devicewithin the management device 102 altering a file stored withinnon-volatile memory. This file may contain a list of all the managedprinting devices 104, 106, 108, as well as their associated activityscores and/or priority levels. The file may contain information similarto that depicted in FIG. 5.

At step 716, the method 700 includes evaluating the list of activityscores that was re-ranked in step 714 and updating the priority levelsbased on the new rank of each printing device. Further, at step 716, themethod 700 includes updating the polling frequency for each printingdevice to correspond to the newly updated priority levels. The pollingfrequencies may also be stored within a file in the memory 304 of themanagement device 102. In some embodiments, the polling frequency willbe the same for each printing device 104, 106, 108 within a givenpriority level. Alternatively, the polling frequencies may depend onpriority level, but be unique for each device, allowing other factorssuch as location to additionally influence the polling frequencies.

At the conclusion of step 716, the method 700 reverts to step 704 andproceeds from there. This method continues ad infinitum untilinterrupted or cancelled by the management device 102.

FIG. 7b is a flow chart illustrating a sub-method 720 of method 700,according to example embodiments.

At step 722, the sub-method 720 includes beginning the update method.This may include, in some embodiments, the processing device 302 withinthe management device 102 initiating the execution of instructionsstored within the memory 304 within the management device 102. This mayfurther include, in some embodiments, temporarily transferring a set ofinstructions from non-volatile memory within the management device 102to volatile memory within the management device 102 for rapid accessduring execution by the processing device 302.

The instructions initiated in step 722 may be a subset of theinstructions initiated in step 702. Alternatively, the instructionsexecuted in step 722 may be unique instructions for sub-method 720,contained elsewhere in the memory 304 of the management device 102.

At step 724, the sub-method 720 includes determining to which printingdevices the requests were sent. This information may further becontained within the communication log discussed in relation to step706. Therefore, step 724 may include the management device 106 openingthe communications log file, and reading the associated IP addresses forthose requests that were transmitted within the last specified amount oftime.

In some embodiments, step 724 may include the management device 102requesting the IP addresses of printing devices to which requests weresent from other computing devices. For example, if a mobile computingdevice recently transmitted a print request to a specific printingdevice, step 724 may include the management device 102 polling themobile computing device for information regarding the printing device towhich the mobile computing device transmitted the request.

At step 726, the sub-method 720 includes determining the nature of therequests that were sent to the printing devices. This information mayadditionally be contained within the communications log file in themanagement device 102.

Alternatively, it could be requested from other computing devices thathave transmitted requests to specific printing devices, as in step 724.In some embodiments, the nature of the requests and the devices to whichthe requests were sent will be gathered from outside computing devicesby the management device 102 at the same time.

At step 728, the sub-method 720 includes determining the weightages ofthe requests that were sent. In some embodiments, the weightages of therequests will directly correlate with the nature of the requests. Theseweightages may be in lookup tables contained within the memory 304 ofthe management device 102. For instance, the nature of the requestsdiscovered in step 726 may act as a search key, yielding the weightagesas the result of the search.

In alternate example embodiments, the management device 102 may use suchfactors as location of the device, time of the request, and sender ofthe request to formulate a weightage for each request. The weightagesindicate the amount the specific requests impact the activity scores forthe devices discovered in step 724.

At step 730, the sub-method 720 includes incrementing the activity scoreof those printing devices to which the requests were sent based on theweightages of the requests. Incrementing the activity score may includemodifying a temporary activity score file stored within the managementdevice 102 in the memory 304.

At the conclusion of step 730, the sub-method 720 proceeds to step 714of method 700.

FIG. 7c is a flow chart illustrating a sub-method 740 of method 700,according to example embodiments.

At step 742, the sub-method 740 includes beginning the update method.This may include, in some embodiments, the processing device 302 withinthe management device 102 initiating the execution of instructionsstored within the memory 304 within the management device 102. This mayfurther include, in some embodiments, temporarily transferring a set ofinstructions from non-volatile memory within the management device 102to volatile memory within the management device 102 for rapid accessduring execution by the processing device 302.

The instructions initiated in step 742 may be a subset of theinstructions initiated in step 702. Alternatively, the instructionsexecuted in step 742 may be unique instructions for sub-method 740,contained elsewhere in the non-transitory, computer-readable medium ofthe management device 102.

At step 744, the sub-method 740 includes determining, by the managementdevice, the activity score of each printing device being managed. Thismay include reading the activity scores from a file stored within thememory 304 of the management device 102. In other embodiments, this mayinclude reading the activities and the weightages for each of theprinting devices 104, 106, 108 from a file within the memory 304 of themanagement device 102, and then subsequently computing, using theprocessor 302 within the management device 102, the activity scores foreach of the processing devices 104, 106, 108.

At step 746, the sub-method 740 includes establishing a handicap valuefor each printing device based on the activity score of each printingdevice. The handicap value may be provided to aid in the resetting ofactivity scores, as depicted in FIG. 6. The handicap value mayadditionally be based on the current priority level of each printingdevice.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, the handicap value for each printingdevice may be configurable. This configurability may be partial (used inconjunction with the activity scores and/or priority levels) or complete(used to override the otherwise established handicap value entirely).

For example, a user may be able to assign, within the management device102, a set of printing devices an advantage each time the activityscores are reset by resetting them to a higher value. If a printingdevice is only used in the afternoon, but the reset of the activityscores for printing devices occurs every morning, it may be necessary toprovide a handicap score for that device such that even though it haslow activity in the morning, it is still competitive throughout the daywith the printing devices that are used all day. This can serve as a wayto ensure that when, in the afternoon for example, a large influx ofusers of that printing device occurs, the printing device is beingpolled regularly for device status, even though it has not been accruingactivity score all morning. In this way, issues such as low toner andlack of paper can still be monitored appropriately after the largeinflux of users.

At step 748, the sub-method 740 includes reassigning the activity scoreof each printing device based on the handicap value for each printingdevice. This may include overwriting the activity scores stored within afile in the memory 304 within the management device 102.

At the conclusion of step 748, the sub-method 740 proceeds to step 714of method 700.

FIG. 7d is a flow chart illustrating a sub-method 760 of method 700,according to example embodiments.

At step 762, the sub-method 760 includes beginning the update method.This may include, in some embodiments, the processing device 302 withinthe management device 102 initiating the execution of instructionsstored within the memory 304 within the management device 102. This mayfurther include, in some embodiments, temporarily transferring a set ofinstructions from non-volatile memory within the management device 102to volatile memory within the management device 102 for rapid accessduring execution by the processing device 302.

The instructions initiated in step 762 may be a subset of theinstructions initiated in step 702. Alternatively, the instructionsexecuted in step 762 may be unique instructions for sub-method 760,contained elsewhere in the non-transitory, computer-readable medium ofthe management device 102.

At step 764, the sub-method 760 includes determining, by the managementdevice, the time since the last polling of each printing device. Thismay include reading a communications log file stored within the memory304 of the management device 102. The communications log file may have alist of polling events for each of the managed printing devices 104,106, 108, and associated timestamps for their most recent pollingevents. This log file may be updated each time step 770 of sub-method760 is executed.

At step 766, the sub-method 760 includes determining if the time sincethe last polling event is greater than the time allotted between pollingevents for any of the printing devices, based on the current pollingfrequency for each printing device. If the time is not greater for anyof the printing devices, then sub-method 760 reverts to step 704 ofmethod 700. If the time is greater for at least one of the printingdevices, then sub-method 760 proceeds to step 768.

Step 766 may include reading a configuration file stored in the memory304 of the management device 102 to determine the allotted time betweenpolling events for each of the managed printing devices. Alternatively,in some embodiments, the configuration file may store only a pollingfrequency for each of various priority levels. In this case, themanagement device 102 may read the priority levels for each printingdevice from a separate file, and then, using these two pieces ofinformation (frequency for each priority level and priority level foreach printing device), synthesize the polling frequency allotted betweenpolling events.

Step 766 may further include the management device 102 reading thecurrent time from a timestamp that is accessible to the processingdevice within the management device 102. Alternatively, the managementdevice 102 may cull the current time from a networked source, such as anetwork printing device, another computing device, or a server (such asa server accessed over the public Internet).

If the time between the current time and the most recent polling eventis longer than allotted, the management device 102 has determined thatanother polling event should occur. If the time between the current timeand the most recent polling event is shorter than allotted, themanagement device 102 has determined that another polling event is notrequired at this time.

At step 768, the sub-method 760 includes determining, by the managementdevice, for which printing devices is the polling time since the lastpolling greater than the time allotted between polling events.

Step 768 may include performing steps 764 and 766 for each managedprinting device 104, 106, 108 and writing all those whose time since thelast polling event is larger than the time allotted to a file storedwithin the memory 304 of the management device 102.

At step 770, the sub-method 760 includes polling the printing device(s)determined in step 768 of sub-method 760 for their device activity.Polling is the process by which the management device 102 pings themanaged printing devices 104, 106, 108 for information regarding theirassociated device states.

Step 770 may include the management device 102 transmitting a simplenetwork management protocol (SNMP) GetRequest to the managed printingdevices 104, 106, 108 that require polling.

At step 772, the sub-method 760 includes determining if any activitieshave occurred within the polled printing device(s) since the lastpolling event. If activities have occurred, the sub-method 760 proceedsto step 774 of sub-method 760. If no activities have occurred,sub-method 760 reverts to step 704 of method 700.

Step 772 may include the management device 102 receiving a copy of anactivity log for each polled printing device from each printing device.These activity logs may contain a list of all activities occurringwithin the given printing device within a specified range of time.

Alternatively, step 772 may include management device 102 receiving thecurrent associated device state from each monitored printing device. Thecurrent device state may indicate the status of every aspect of theprinting device (i.e., toner level, paper level, pending print requests,network card enabled/disabled, open chassis, dirty scanning device,etc.) or it may indicate a subset of each aspect of the printing device,such as only the ones that require user attention.

This log or current device status may be stored within the managementdevice 102 and compared to an internal log maintained by the managementdevice 102 for each printing device and updated with the results of eachpolling event. Thus, in step 772, if, for example, the internal logindicates that after the last polling, there were 72 sheets of paperleft, and when comparing with the new log from the printing device, itis discovered by the management device 102 that there are now 150 sheetsof paper remaining, it can be deduced by the management device 102 thatan event of a user refilling the paper tray has occurred since the lastpolling.

At step 774, the sub-method 760 includes establishing, by the managementdevice, how many activities have occurred within the polled printingdevice(s) since the last polling event(s). In addition, at step 774, thesub-method 760 includes determining, by the management device 102, whichtypes of activities occurred within the polled printing device(s) sincethe last polling event.

Step 774 may further include comparing or reviewing the log or currentdevice status, as discussed with respect to step 772, to extract theidentifiers of activities that have occurred since the last pollingevents. These activity identifiers may further be stored in a recentlypolled activities log file within the management device 102, in someembodiments.

At step 776, the sub-method 760 includes determining, by the managementdevice 102, the weightages associated with each activity that hasoccurred within the polled printing device(s) since the last pollingevent. The activity identifier(s) described in step 774 may also includeweightage(s), indicating how each activity should affect the activityscore for that particular printing device.

In some embodiments, step 776 may include using the activityidentifier(s) from step 774 as a search key within a weightages file(database) stored within the management device 102. The weightages file(database) may include a list of all possible activities occurringwithin managed printing devices. This list would comprise possiblesearch keys of activity identifiers and may be linked to associated datavalues that represent the weightages for a given search key.

The weightages may be universal across all activities on all manageddevices (e.g. a paper jam is associated with a weightage value of “5”).Alternatively, the weightages may be specified with the activityidentifier for each individual activity for each individual printer(e.g. an “out of colored toner” indication may be associated with aweightage value of “5” on a color printer, whereas it is associated witha weightage value of “0” on a black and white only printer).

At step 778, the sub-method 760 includes adjusting the activity score ofthe printing device(s) that were polled based on the weightages and thenumber of activities that occurred within the polled printing device(s)since the last polling event. This may include modifying an activityscore file within the management device 102.

Additionally, in some instances, “adjusting the activity score” mayinclude lowering the activity score by a certain amount. For example, ifthe weightage of the activity of the polled printing device(s) werenegative, step 778 would include reducing the activity score of thepolled printing device(s).

At the completion of step 778, the sub-method 760 proceeds to step 714of method 700.

IV. CONCLUSION

The above detailed description describes various features and functionsof the disclosed systems, devices, and methods with reference to theaccompanying figures. While various aspects and embodiments have beendisclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent. Thevarious aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes ofillustration only and are not intended to be limiting, with the truescope being indicated by the following claims.

What is claimed:
 1. A printing device management system, comprising: oneor more printing devices, wherein each of the one or more printingdevices has one or more associated device states; and a managementdevice, comprising: a printing device controller, wherein the printingdevice controller is configured to: poll each of the one or moreprinting devices for the one or more associated device states; andtransmit one or more requests to each of the one or more printingdevices; and a non-transitory, computer-readable medium, withinstructions stored thereon, wherein when a processing device within themanagement device executes the instructions, the processing deviceperforms to: maintain an activity score for each of the one or moreprinting devices, wherein the activity score is based on the one or moreassociated device states and the one or more requests, both defined overa first specified length of time, and wherein the activity score of eachof the one or more printing devices is reset every second specifiedlength of time; rank each of the one or more printing devices based onthe activity score of each of the one or more printing devices; andestablish a frequency, for each of the one or more printing devices,over which to poll each of the one or more printing devices, based onthe rank of each of the one or more printing devices.
 2. The printingdevice management system of claim 1, wherein ranking each of the one ormore printing devices further comprises associating, within themanagement device, each of the one or more printing devices with one ormore priority levels.
 3. The printing device management system of claim2, wherein the number of priority levels is configurable.
 4. Theprinting device management system of claim 2, wherein the processingdevice adjusts the number of priority levels while executing theinstructions.
 5. The printing device management system of claim 2,wherein the number of printing devices permitted to be associated witheach of the one or more priority levels is configurable.
 6. The printingdevice management system of claim 2, wherein how frequently theassociation between each of the one or more printing devices and the oneor more priority levels can change is configurable.
 7. The printingdevice management system of claim 1, wherein the processing deviceadjusts the rank of one or more of the one or more printing deviceswhile executing the instructions.
 8. The printing device managementsystem of claim 1, wherein the rank of a subset of the one or moreprinting devices is further based on one or more sticky flags indicatingthe rank of the subset of the one or more printing devices regardless ofactivity score.
 9. The printing device management system of claim 1,wherein the frequency over which to poll each of the one or moreprinting devices is increased when the available processing resources inthe processing device increase.
 10. The printing device managementsystem of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more associated devicestates has a weightage value that acts as a multiplier for each of theone or more associated device states, thereby varying the amount each ofthe one or more device states impacts the activity score of each of theone or more printing devices.
 11. The printing device management systemof claim 1, wherein the one or more associated device states areselected from the group consisting of low toner level, threshold numberof pending jobs, open paper tray, paper tray empty, paper jam, andnetwork communication disruption.
 12. (canceled)
 13. The printing devicemanagement system of claim 1, wherein resetting the activity score ofeach of the one or more printing devices comprises computing a handicapvalue for each of the one or more printing devices, and wherein thehandicap value indicates to what value the activity score should bereset for each of the one or more printing devices.
 14. The printingdevice management system of claim 13, wherein the handicap value foreach of the one or more printing devices is dependent upon the activityscore of each of the one or more printing devices prior to the reset.15. A method for managing one or more printing devices, comprising:polling, by a device controller within a management device, one or moreprinting devices, wherein each of the one or more printing devices hasone or more associated device states; maintaining, by a processingdevice within the management device executing a set of instructionsstored on a non-transitory, computer-readable medium, an activity scorefor each of the one or more printing devices, wherein the activity scoreis based on the one or more associated device states and one or morerequests transmitted from the device controller to each of the one ormore printing devices, both defined over a first specified length oftime, and wherein the activity score of each of the one or more printingdevices is reset every second specified length of time; ranking, by theprocessing device within the management device executing a set ofinstructions stored on a non-transitory, computer-readable medium, eachof the one or more printing devices based on the activity score of eachof the one or more printing devices; and establishing, by the processingdevice within the management device executing a set of instructionsstored on a non-transitory, computer-readable medium, a frequency, foreach of the one or more printing devices, over which to poll each of theone or more printing devices, wherein the frequency for each of the oneor more printing devices is based on the rank of each of the one or moreprinting devices.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein ranking each ofthe one or more printing devices further comprises associating, withinthe management device, each of the one or more printing devices with oneor more priority levels.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein resettingthe activity score of each of the one or more printing devices comprisescomputing a handicap value for each of the one or more printing devices,and wherein the handicap value indicates to what value the activityscore should be reset for each of the one or more printing devices. 18.The method of claim 15, wherein the rank of a subset of the one or moreprinting devices is further based on one or more sticky flags indicatingthe rank of the subset of the one or more printing devices regardless ofactivity score.
 19. The method of claim 15, wherein the frequency overwhich to poll each of the one or more printing devices is increased whenthe available processing resources in the processing device increase.20. A management device configured to manage printing devices,comprising: a printing device controller, wherein the printing devicecontroller is configured to: poll each of one or more printing devicesfor one or more associated device states; and transmit one or morerequests to each of the one or more printing devices; and anon-transitory, computer-readable medium, with instructions storedthereon, wherein when a processing device within the management deviceexecutes the instructions, the processing device performs to: maintainan activity score for each of the one or more printing devices, whereinthe activity score is based on the one or more associated device statesand the one or more requests, both defined over a first specified lengthof time, and wherein the activity score of each of the one or moreprinting devices is reset every second specified length of time; rankeach of the one or more printing devices based on the activity score ofeach of the one or more printing devices; and establish a frequency, foreach of the one or more printing devices, over which to poll each of theone or more printing devices, based on the rank of each of the one ormore printing devices.
 21. The management device of claim 20, whereineach of the one or more associated device states has a weightage valuethat acts as a multiplier for each of the one or more associated devicestates, thereby varying the amount each of the one or more device statesimpacts the activity score of each of the one or more printing devices.